Tele converter for FZ1000?

[Gospel]

I have and really like my FZ1000. But, since, I do a lot of nature photography (mostly birds), I need to increase its zoom range from 600mm to 1,000+mm. Is there a tele converter that works with the FZ1000 like the 1.7x DMW-LT55 that works with the FZ1000?

The FZ80 with its 60x zoom is very tempting but the 1" CMOS sensor of the FZ1000 is way better. I really would like to avoid going the 4/3rds route because the long range lens needed would be VERY expensive. :-(

Thanks!

 

[Cpljacko]

Puzzled where you get 600mm from - the max optical zoom of the FZ1000 is 400mm. You can immediately double this to an acceptable quality 800mm (no loss of aperture) with i.Zoom. If you also want to use the digital zoom you can get the focal length up to 3200mm. The quality of the latter (smallest picture size +i.Zoom) may not be acceptable, although it can be improved with PP - depends on what you want.

 

[Gospel]

Sorry. my FZ200 does the 600mm, not the FZ10000. I got a DWM-LT55 + DWM-LA7 on order for the FZ200

Yes, I do use the i.Zoom feature of the FZ10000 to get up 800mm (@ 5MP). I do use the digital zoom to get a closer view but, I try to avoid taking photod at high digital zoom,

I still want to give my FZ10000 a long reach at full resolution, though. A 1.7x tele converter would bring it up from 400mm to 680mm.

 

[mayday7]

Puzzled where you get 600mm from - the max optical zoom of the FZ1000 is 400mm. You can immediately double this to an acceptable quality 800mm (no loss of aperture) with i.Zoom. If you also want to use the digital zoom you can get the focal length up to 3200mm. The quality of the latter (smallest picture size +i.Zoom) may not be acceptable, although it can be improved with PP - depends on what you want.

Apologies for this being not completely on the main topic of this thread, but I couldn't help noticing your mentioning improving on pics taken with digital zoom.

Basically, I have a pic of the lunar eclipse a couple of years from when my camera was new and so when I wasn't famiiliarly enough with digital zoom (the whether or not to use it debate). I had to be quick so not knowing enough about the camera I put it on auto with maximum digital zoom. It looks rather fuzzy and I wonder if anyone has any good ideas for sharpening it up. I have got Photoshop and Lightroom since then.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ANAYV]

.....Basically, I have a pic of the lunar eclipse a couple of years from when my camera was new and so when I wasn't famiiliarly enough with digital zoom (the whether or not to use it debate). I had to be quick so not knowing enough about the camera I put it on auto with maximum digital zoom. It looks rather fuzzy and I wonder if anyone has any good ideas for sharpening it up. I have got Photoshop and Lightroom since then.

Thanks in advance.

Not much you can do to bring back detail that wasn't captured in the first place (or was smoother out, or interpolation creating artifacts and loosing detail)

Anyway here's my quick attempt using free program FastStone Image Viewer:

Click on Original Size to see full size image

ANAYV

 

[Rodger1943]

I have the FZ1000 and I also have the TCON-17, which is an Olympus TC that I use occasionally on my FZ200. It can work reasonably well on the FZ200, but I have tested it on several occasions with the FZ1000 and found it to be worse than cropping. I think Panasonic may have realised this problem with the FZ1000, as it has no connection point for a TC other than the plastic lens thread, which is basically designed for lighter objects like filters. On the FZ200 you can buy a lens tube for attaching the TC and Panasonic also offered its own brand of TC, but not for the FZ1000.

For best results in getting a longer reach I use the Extra Optical Zoom, which if you set the camera to 5mp, will give you 800mm and if you need more, you can use iZoom, which at 10mp will give you 1120mm. I have found that going beyond this point the picture quality drop off is much more noticeable. I'm attaching two images one taken using EOZ at 800mm and the other taken at 1120mm using iZoom. Obviously, for best results the closer you are the better. In each case these birds were only about 10 feet away, but they were small birds and needed the amount of zoom used to get a reasonable image of them. The EOZ gives slightly better results, but doesn't reach as far, unfortunately.

Extra Optical Zoom at 800mm

iZoom at 1120mm



--
Panasonic FZ1000 FZ200

 

[Cpljacko]

As ANYV says, you can't put in detail that is not there. What you can do is to strengthen what you do have. Perceived sharpness is often actually heightened contrast, so that is a good place to start. Microcontrast which emphasises the contrast on the edges of detail can also be adjusted to improve sharpness - you can do this with HDR progs (no need to merge several shots in this case). Local tone mapping is another form of contrast adjustment on Paintshop Pro (the prog I use) - Photoshop and Lightroom will have it, but don't know what they call it. All these things can be used with care to increase apparent sharpness - but overdoing will make things look unnatural and distorted (although that may be an artistic objective).

 

[GeraldW]

Rodger,

You may want to try the newer TCON 17X. It works exceptionally well on an FZ200 or FZ300, and mounts directly on the LA7 adapter. 1020 mm at f/2.8 is not to be sneezed at.

I had the TCON 17 several years ago, and found a 4 mm spacer improved the image; but did not completely fix it.

I bought my TCON 17X new from Amazon for $110.

 

[Rodger1943]

Thanks Jerry, I didn't know there was a newer version. How do you tell if you're buying a newer version?

 

[Avian2016]

In my humble opinion the FZ1000 motorzoom isn't particularly suited to coupling with TCs.

Mr. Houghton proved that a sensible use of either EOZ or iZoom can produce better results than using TC. And that probably applies to all latest FZ cameras from FZ200-FZ2000.

And yes, for birding no FL ain't enuff. One experienced fellow birder told me: "Just get closer man. That's the best TC/iZoom/EOZ."

 

[GeraldW]

The model number is TCON 17X, instead of just TCON 17 with no X. Also, the 17X has a molded rubber grip at the middle which I don't recall the original having. Not positive about that, though.

The original TCON 17 is THE choice for the FZ150. It's spooky how good that combo is.

 

[GeraldW]

I have to disagree a bit. The FZ150 works wonderfully well with the original Olympus TCON 17, with some users claiming it's actually better than the FZ150 alone. I won't go that far; but it is an excellent match.

On the FZ200 & 300, the newer Olympus TCON-17X is a very good match. Nice and sharp with good contrast.

FZ200 with TCON-17X at 1020 mm f/2.8

The other choice for the FZ200/300 is the 1.7x Nikon telex. Hard to find, expensive and requires a step down ring in an odd size to mount it; but the results are excellent. I think the TCON-17X is close.

--
Jerry

 

[Avian2016]

Graham Houghton surely made comparisons while using the previous version of that TC. If the new version enables better sharpness and performance in general, then that's some good news for those interested in tryout.

Thanks for sharing the info on that new TC.

 

[GeraldW]

I had posted on it when I first got it and took some test shots.

In addition, there were some posts by an FZ300 owner that showed some shots of a distant office building. The shots looked really good, so it inspired me to try it. FZ300 has the same lens and uses the same LA7 adapter as my FZ200; so I figured it should work.

Tele converters, even from the same company as the camera are a bit of trial end error. The original TCON 17 worked better on my Canon G5 than the one Canon made for it., the TC-DC58N (I think that's the right model).

 

[Rodger1943]

The model number is TCON 17X, instead of just TCON 17 with no X. Also, the 17X has a molded rubber grip at the middle which I don't recall the original having. Not positive about that, though.

The original TCON 17 is THE choice for the FZ150. It's spooky how good that combo is.

 

[GeraldW]

If the FZ200 used a smaller aperture for a certain shot, it would be better than when wide open with the TCON 17. The 17X doesn't seem to have that issue, and is sharp wide open at f/2.8.

 

[KnowThySelf64]

Don't you mean the FZ1000...? There is an EX M that adds an additional 162mm but crops the resolution down to 10Mp which defeats the purpose. The i-Zoom is pretty poor quality since it is all digital zoom and very grainy. The EX-S mode drops the quality down even further to 5Mp and well now you are at flip phone quality and better to use the full resolution of 20Mp. Just get closer to your subject you will be fine.

 

[KnowThySelf64]

There are companies who rent cameras and bodies without the need to spend a lot of money. You can rent top Full Frame cameras and get accompanying lenses or like wise with Crop Sensor cameras and lenses. Just a thought. The tiny sensor cameras are just not there in quality at that range. I had the FZ80, Canon SX70 and Sony HX400 and the images were..........pretty poor even in RAW and processed.

Rent the gear and save some $$

 

[Chris R-UK]

[No message]

 

[KnowThySelf64]

Will do, cheers